Getting Your Oxen Out of the Ditch

When a holiday comes around and we are blessed with a three day weekend, why is it we spend the time working on projects of various kinds?  We work 40 hour a week, plus travel time, and when we get an extra day off most of us like want to dive head first into 'getting our oxen out of the ditch'.   

This past Memorial Day weekend Michael set me up us up for a three day boat burnout project.  I knew it was going to be an exhaustive three days, but it never occurred to me that I would be crawling on my knees, (never should have sold my daughter's volley ball knee pads) and contorting my body into impossible positions while reaching over the side of the boat.  Michael had spent countless hours examining different products and methods of re-finishing the teak toe rail prior to our scheduled nail destroying, body baking, skin dehydrating mission.   His research on all the different products available led him to conclude Honey Teak was the best product to achieve the desired result he we wanted on Adventure Us 2.  Unfortunately for me us the required procedure to achieve the end results was long and involved : two coats here, three coats there, buff this now, then yet another final coat (or two).  All of this was subsequent to him spending several weeks, after his day job, stripping and sanding off the old finish.

 

I made a declaration to Captain Bligh Michael early Memorial Day morning that I was only going to work until lunch time; then I would mutiny and head out to our favorite watering hole on the bay for a bucket of Mexican libation and some raw oysters. At 2pm we finally finished and I was no longer in danger of acting out my interpretation of Fletcher Christian. After three days of bending and contorting every which way, I finally got my reward!

Ahhh, I love rewards.

 



"JL! Please Come Down Here in Case I Get Stuck!"

By Janet Lee

After weeks of research and making a template to make sure it would fit, Michael and I decided that we would purchase a composting toilet for the forward head.  I thought what a great concept; we can have an on board garden with all the dirt we make from poop.  However the thought of extracting all the old waste, and water lines, plus the holding tank (in our case a large bladder) did not appeal to me in the least. To say that I was ecstatically happy when Michael did all of the dirty work while I was occupied with other things (nail appointment, fabric shopping, liquor store for disinfectant, catching up with my daughter for lunch) is an understatement.

                                                                     

After hours spent networking with various people I returned to Adventure Us 2 to discover my Michael had pulled out most of the crappy old stuff, but he still had to get under the forward head to extract the last remaining toxic waste lines and to begin the installation of our new, improved pooper. I was pretending to polishing the port lights (can't mess up a new manicure) when I heard the most obnoxious noise coming from down below. I followed the desperate crying and all I could see his were his cute little legs from his knees down sticking out from a small opening under the V-berth.  I thought to myself, "Good Lord!  I hope he is not stuck!"  I walked over to let him know I was there for him when I heard a muffled yell, "JL please hang close by in case I get stuck!"  Great!   How in God's name did he ever get in that little opening and contort his body to get where he was, and worse yet, how would I get him out if he did decide to get stuck?  "Hello, 911. My emergency is....."   I assured him that I was there for him, but in reality I was not very comfortable with what he was doing.  (When did that ever stop a man? Right?)

Fortunately, he completed his mission and extricated himself without my help or having to call 911. 

Now we just need to make dirt.

Stressful Fun By JLee

Stressful Fun
By Janet Lee

With a degree in Art and a good 'eye',  I feel comfortable that I will be able to make AdventureUS2 quite comfortable for Michael and I.  However, the journey from thirty-year-old angry-maroon salon seating to comfortable and appealing just may prove to be 'stressful fun'. 

When The Contessa came to us in July of 2012, I decided to redo the salon seating. Countless hours were spent amidst books and swatches at a local upholstery business.  I thought I knew what I wanted but once knee deep in sample books, I figured out that I only knew what I DIDN'T want! 

This was supposed to be fun.  When I told my friends what I was doing they would reply, "Oh! What fun!"  After a few weekends of searching for the perfect fabric I came to the conclusion that my friends had a sick sense of humor!

With my daughter Erica's wedding approaching, I decided to put this project on hold until after the big event.  I never thought it would take so long to decide.  But, if you think about it, there are many things to consider when choosing fabric. It needs to be durable and not hold moisture.  It needs to be peaceful.  It definitely needs to be stain resistant because we love our wine.  And, Michael and I both need to like it.  .... for a long, long time! 

Once the big wedding event was over, I was not in a rush to begin the challenge all over again, remembering how much 'fun' it was the first time around.
 

Phase ll
Keep on keeping on!
 

Michael suggested that we find someone we liked and give them a small project to see the quality of their work and how well they followed our instructions.  We asked around and came up with a woman who many people said was one of the best in the area.  I met with her and we clicked.  Her challenge was to make a windless cover.  I sent her a picture of exactly what we wanted.

 

What we wanted

 

 

What we got

 

Phase lll  

Find a new upholstery shop.

One afternoon I convinced Michael to go with me to Island Furniture in Seabrook, Texas..   I went in there once and discovered some wonderful items that we could use in decorating our boat.  While walking around, Michael noticed a fabric section.  Turns out they do upholstery!  With a store front as a middle-man, we assumed it would be pricy, but we liked Denise and decided to have her come out and give us an estimate.  To our surprise, it was reasonable! 

 

 

So, tomorrow I start the 'fun' all over again.  This time it will be different.  Denise knows what we DON'T want and I am hopeful she will have samples already pulled for me to view. 

To be continued....

Sailing 101 By JLee

I now own this huge boat and I have no Idea how to sail.  What should I do? 

Sure, I have been on boats with others and we've chartered a few times in the BVI's, but knowing the difference between a bow and a stern?  Not a clue.  Michael kept telling me that I had to learn and be comfortable with her.  What if something happened to him and I had to count on me?  Now, that's a scary thought! 

Then one day my dear friend made this comment, "So you bought a big boat and now you are going to learn how to sail?  Didn't you go about it backwards?"  I guess I did do it backwards.  I hadn't thought of it that way.  I guess I need to start thinking about learning.

Then, on Christmas morning I opened my gift from Michael.  There it was in bold letters.  "Congratulations!  Welcome to All Points of Sail Sailing School".  Now all I had to do was sign up. 

There is a good reason I moved from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Houston.  I don't like the cold.  My plan was to wait until at least April before I subjected myself to going out onto the water so I did not freeze.  After all, If I was concentrating on being miserable, how much could I possibly learn?

A tidbit about me...Before I dive into something, I like to have all my ducks in a row so one week before my first class I opened my Learn How To Sail book and crammed my head with  vocabulary and terms.  Talk about system overload!  It was well worth it because I did great on my test and the actual sailing was a blast!  Our group consisted of four 29 year old college buddies and me. That was an interesting group!

I learned a lot, laughed a lot, enjoyed the time, and I now feel semi-confident with my knowledge.  Now all I need to do is get some experience under my belt to make Michael proud of me.

By JLee   
                                                              The Motley Crew

How the 2 of US Met The Contessa
By Janet Lee Knizner-Enders

After a few years of serious searching for a boat, Michael came across a couple of 44 ft. Morgans in Annapolis, Md.  He suggested we take a whirlwind weekend trip to check them out.  Houston to Annapolis and back in two days.  Being the AdventureUS person that I am, I booked US an early morning flight in November, 2011 and we were off, hopefully to find our floating retirement island!

We visited both ships and spent the rest of the day browsing Annaplois' quaint shops and sipping on adult beverages of our choice at a local pub.  Sometimes one needs fortification to aid in the decision making process. The Chesapeake Bay crabs at Cantler's and wonderful conversations with locals also helped!  The next day we lunched on $1 Bloody Mary's and oysters before returning to H-Town.

 

For the next few days all we could talk about was Contessa.  We decided to make an offer!

After several weeks of long-distance negotiations, our bid was accepted.  We were now the owners of our very own retirement island!  It was time to make arrangements to bring her home to US.  It was time for an Adventure with the 2 of US!

As we dreamed of christening AdventureUS2, we researched the means by which we would bring her home.  We hired a captain who came highly recommended.

We longed to move Contessa out of the shipyard and into the water so the good, or NOT so good captain, could bring her to US.  He set sail on February 23, 2012.  Within a few hours he returned to the dock.  The Contessa was overheating.  The problem proved to be nothing serious so she was back out in the delta heading south the very next day.

Due to the inclement weather from all the tornadoes sweeping the country, the good captain was forced to take the Intercoastal Waterway.  I requested that he check in with US every few days.  At one point the weather allowed him to escape the ICW for a day or so but mostly the weather continued to be bad.  By the time he arrived in Miami, he was days past his projected arrival on the third coast, the Texas coast.

Then the drama began.

The good captain and I had planned on touching base Sunday morning.  Monday rolled around... nothing.  Late Monday afternoon Michael called me at my office to see if I had heard from him.  I told him that I did not.  He wasn't even responding to my texts to him.  Michael proceeded to tell me this heartbreaking story.

The owner of a shipyard in Miami phoned and said that Contessa was brought in late the night before, de-masted.  The dinghy motor was missing.  The pit of my stomach cratered.

For the next four months, our Contessa, soon to be our AdventureUS2, lay broken in a faraway shipyard on the South Miami River while we were in Houston trying desperately to deal with the good and the bad news that followed.

The good news, the company who manufactured her mast was still doing business. The bad news, there were 3 masts to be manufactured before ours. The good news, our insurance covered approximately $80,000 for a new mast, standing and running rigging, framing for solar panels and new solar panels, new Bimini and framing, and a few other things.The bad news, while she lay broken, she was burglarized... again. 

Just when does the last Adventure end and a new one begin?

Back up a few sentences.  At this point we were not aware we had been robbed until the Coast Guard tried reaching US in the middle of the night.  When I missed the call they sent one of Seabrook's finest to our door at 2am.  Apparently the thieves dropped the Epirb into the water and it was sending out distress signals.  The police gave me a number to call to verify Contessa was our ship.  The Coast Guard told US that the coordinates the Epirb was sending out gave the location of being somewhere off the coast of Miami or Spain.  

Thoughts were racing through my head. Was our retirement island lost at sea, never to be seen again?

"Handle this in the morning," they said.  "I THINK NOT!"  I thought.

Immediately I called the shipyard and woke the night watchman.  After convincing him to get out of bed, get dressed, and venture out into the rainy night to check on Contessa, I promised to 'hold'.  He returned in a few minutes to assue US that she was docked.

Early the next morning the owner of the shipyard called Michael to let US know that our Contessa had been burglarized.

Next item on our list, find the NOT-so-good captain.  Finally, after numerous texts and phone calls he informed me that he was composing an email with the details of what happened.  He preferred to speak to me AFTER I heard the entire story.  In all the words he intimidated me with, all he really said was, "I became complacent and broke your boat."

Fast forward another four months to the second week of July, 2012.  After working with Heather and the very efficient ourside adjuster from Progressive Insurance, we hired another captain - a local man - who gave US a list of references.  We met him.  We liked him.  We hired him.  He and two friends flew to Miami to bring The Contessa, soon to be AdventureUS2, across the Gulf of Mexico to US and to her new home at the Seabrook Marina!

There you have it!   A lot of detail left out but what a journey Contessa has had on her journey to US!

We took her out into Galveston Bay a few times before starting her 'remodel'.  She is superb!  Just one more thing...you can bet your 'bippi' that with all the negative things that happened on her journey to US, we will be christening her, offering gifts to King Neptune, and throwing in a virgin or two, if there are any still around.  We will do whatever we can to start our lives together with her on a positive note - the AdventurUS2 and US!

Bandera
Cowboy capital of Texas
by H. Michael

We felt like we needed a break from boat projects so on Thursday we trailered our iron horses over to Bandera so we could ride the twisted sisters with the outlaw boys from Whiskey River. 

Friday we rode from Bandera to Enchanted rock.

Enchanted Rock is an enormous pink granite rock formation located  approximately 15 miles north of  Fredricksburg, Texas.  It covers approximately 640 acres and rises 425 feet above the surrounding terrain to an elevation of 1,825 feet above sea level.  It is the largest pink granite monadnock in the United States.  Our hike from the bottom to the top (and back) took about an hour and a half, was enjoyable, and the weather was perfect.  I imagine there are times of the year when you fry like an egg in a skillet on top of that rock.  Actually the weather conditions the whole day were magnificent.  It was the kind of day that follows a cold front after it marches through Texas.  It started out a little cool, with leather jacks and gloves, but transitioned into short sleeves around noon with plenty of sun, blue sky, and mild temperatures. 

 

 

 



 

 

Getting rid of crap.



By: H. Michael

When I first met Janet Lee 5 7 years ago she had a lot of baggage.  A gym bag, a laundry bag, make up bag, hand bag, shoulder bag, carry on bag, and my personal favorite, an overnight bag.  Amazingly all of her bags were neatly packed and fit into the closets, and attic, of her patio home.  Somehow ( I bet it was my huge... um... personality) I convinced her to give up her reasonably peaceful life and run away move in sail away with me. All of her bags have been packed stuffed into, and co-mingled, with mine for the last four years.  We have reached the point in our 5 year plan, where it's time to dump our stuff.

Elimination of stuff after sixty years of buildup (Janet Lee insists she is 28) is not expected to be easy.  It is after all our stuff, and the accrual of our stuff, that has helped define our personalities and help make us who we have become. Just take a look at Janet Lee's cowboy boots for example:

 

Each pair is full of history, and memories spent busting broncos, mucking stalls, stomping on broken hearts, and twirling around hardwood floors.   Downsizing and simplifying our lives to the degree required to live aboard a 500 square foot boat will not allow us to carry around boot bags.

Personally,  when I think of crap, I conjure up images of useless waste and worthless matter lacking any kind of valuable function.  Maybe that's the whole point.  What positive, effective value is created by the stuff we bring into our lives, or more importantly; what value is created by the stuff we bring to Adventure Us 2?  Shouldn't we concern ourselves with the process of elimination and not what is eliminated?

Someone please pass me a laxative.  Things are about to get hard aching painful stressful simple easy interesting.